What are the symptoms of OxyContin use? One or more of the following warning signs may indicate that a person is using OxyContin. However, they may also indicate problems other than drug abuse.

Behavioral signs: Changes in overall attitude/personality; decrease in motivation level; loss of interest in activities, social groups, or hobbies.

Physical signs and symptoms: Sleeping at unusual times; sweating; vomiting; coughing and sniffling; twitching; loss of appetite; sluggish or absent response of constricted pupils when exposed to light.

Environmental signs: Missing medication or unaccounted for medications; frequent visits to multiple doctors or making prescription drug purchases online.

OxyContin, like other opioids, blocks physical pain. It can also affect the region of the brain which regulates pleasure and results in an initial euphoria. Symptoms of OxyContin use may also include drowsiness, constipation, depressed breathing depending on the amount taken. Taking a large single dose could cause severe respiratory depression or death.

Opioids like OxyContin may interact with other medications and are only safe to use with other medications under a physician's supervision. Typically, they should not be used with substances such as alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. Since the symptoms of OxyContin use include slowed breathing, combining other medications with this drug could lead to life-threatening respiratory depression.

Under prescribed dosage, OxyContin is an effective pain reliever. However, when crushed and snorted or injected, symptoms of OxyContin use include a quick and powerful "high" that some abusers compare to the feeling they get when doing heroin. The NIDA reports that in some areas of the country, OxyContin abuse rates are actually higher than heroin abuse.